February 9, 2010

8 Questions with Matt Labash

By: Sonny Bunch

I’ve sung Matt Labash’s praises on this site many times before; if you’re not yet familiar with the man, I don’t know what to tell you. David Brooks has written that “talent is not randomly distributed. Some people, like Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard, just know how to write.” That’s about as succinct and as accurate of a description of Matt as you’re going to find: He just knows how to write. More importantly — as he has demonstrated in pieces on New Orleans, Detroit, and individuals as varied as Dick Cheney and Ward Churchill — he knows how to put you inside another person’s skin, to see the world from their point of view…even if he doesn’t agree with it.

There’s a new collection of Matt’s writings on bookshelves now called Flyfishing with Darth Vader. You should buy it today to boost his Amazon rankings. I promised Matt that at least one or two of my loyal tens of readers would click through and pick up a copy. Prove me right.

On to the questions! I put them after the jump because they go on a bit. Click through for his thoughts on fishing, the Coen Brothers, and the bedroom habits of a surgeon general. Trust me: You won’t be disappointed.

1. — A running theme in your writing — one that shows up in the title of your new book — is the soothing power of fly fishing. As someone who has never entered battle with my gilled brethren without a bobber bathed in bright orange paint, I have to ask: What is the appeal of fly fishing?

The trout-queen crowd will jabber your ear off about the solitude, and the grace that is required to throw a tight loop, and they will tell you that they chase trout because trout live in all the most beautiful places. Which is all true, as far as it goes. But for me, I enjoy how much it confounds those who don’t do it. It’s not really the most efficient way to catch fish, although I catch a lot more fish than my bobber brethren, on average. Though it does have all sorts of advantages, which I won’t bore you with here. But at bottom, it makes those who don’t do it uncomfortable, because it’s harder. It requires you to be very attuned to what you’re doing. It’s not pop-a-beer and sit-in-a-lawnchair fishing. It takes touch. And other people’s discomfort brings me solace. I’m kind of misanthropic about my fly fishing, that way. Which is why I prefer to do it alone. I have no need to share it. Is it silly to stand in a river for hours and wave a stick in the air to pierce a fish in the mouth with sharp steel, only to turn it loose? Of course it is. It’s an utterly preposterous sport. Which is precisely why I like it. Its pointlessness is the entire point. It’s purposelessness provides its own purpose. And I can pretty much divide the world up by people who get that, and people who don’t.

2. — If you could fight any one actor — living or dead — who would you choose?

Dame Judi Dench. If that old bat sees me, she’d better cross the street.

3. — Your greatest skill as a reporter is your ability to forge a connection with even the most recalcitrant of subjects. Is there anyone you felt unable to break through to? Who was your hardest interview?

Joycelyn Elders, the former Surgeon General. She famously championed teaching masturbation to children. So being a big kid myself, I asked her if she could share a few pointers. She declined.

4. — You have only film to watch for the next year. It will be shown on a loop, but you will not be forced to watch; you can jump in and out whenever you choose. What film do you pick?

Miller’s Crossing

5. — While we’re on the subject of film, please explain to me the appeal of Miller’s Crossing. Look, it’s a nice little picture, but c’mon: It’s like the sixth or seventh best Coen Brothers film.

As opposed to what, Fargo? Their most overrated picture? A movie about snow and bad accents? As opposed to Blood Simple, which all film school dorks cite so that they can pretend to only like their “early work” before they sold out and made Raising Arizona (which happens to be their second best film). Barton Fink and Hudsucker Proxy? Two of the most claustrophobic, unwatchable films ever made, which pains me to say, since the late, great Paul Newman was wasted in the latter? Look, I love the Coens (even if it doesn’t sound like it). I hoist a White Russian to the Dude (The Big Lebowski – their third best film, ever). But by my lights, they have made precisely one masterpiece: Miller’s Crossing, a film that features Gabriel Byrne at his black-Irish best, a film about loyalty and double-crosses, a film about trust and betrayal, about manhood and friendship, a film which features some of the most razor-sharp Coen Brothers repartee ever:

Exhibit A: Tom Reagan: If you want me to keep my mouth shut, it’s gonna cost you some dough. I figure a thousand bucks is reasonable, so I want two.

Exhibit B: Tom Reagan: If I’d known we were gonna cast our feelings into words, I’d have memorized the Song of Solomon.

Exhibit C: Johnny Caspar: It’s gettin’ so a businessman can’t expect no return from a fixed fight. Now, if you can’t trust a fix, what can you trust? For a good return, you gotta go bettin’ on chance – and then you’re back with anarchy, right back in the jungle.

Exhibit D: Verna: Leo’s got the right idea. I like him, he’s honest and he’s got a heart.
Tom Reagan: Then it’s true what they say. Opposites attract.

I could go on. But I won’t. Miller’s Crossing is chess, everything else is checkers.

6. — If you could choose any one American to symbolize America as it stands today, in 2010, who would you choose?

I’d have to go with John McCormack, the Weekly Standard reporter (and my colleague) who was pushed to the ground by Martha Coakley’s thugs. Here’s a lunchbucket guy just trying to do his job, when he gets tripped up by the jackboot of oppression. But what does he do? He got knocked down, yes. But he got up again. Cause you’re never gonna keep him down. He’s like the living embodiment of that Chumbawamba song. Also, he demanded that the twit buy him a new suit. And really, that’s why my great grandfather Labash came over on the boat: to draw the charge, then get a new suit of clothes. So yeah, John McCormack is the guy that to me, symbolizes America. Either him, or Chris Harrison, the host of The Bachelor, who I think just does a magnificent job.

7. — Is downloading music without paying for it stealing?

No, stealing is charging 18 bucks for a CD, which is what they used to do before we started robbing record companies blind. Doesn’t feel so good, does it record companies? The artists, however, I feel sorry for. I don’t know how they’re supposed to make a living anymore. They’re just going to have to find a more stable growth industry, I guess, like print journalism.

8. — Are you America’s greatest hero?

No, Sonny. I’m just a man. One who puts his pants on one leg at a time. When I wear pants. Which I’m not, at the moment. Say, what are you wearing? Wanna take this offline?